Mail Archives: opendos/1997/02/02/11:37:24
[...]
>I think that OpenDOS should progress in a NEW direction, by adding
>somehthing like ext2 support STANDARD. It may not work with old apps,
>but that is ok. The old apps will sit on FAT drives. This will
>change as more and more new programs come out. I like the IFS layer
>the best actually, so that any filesystem can be supported. These
>types of issues BELONG in the OS, not in user software. When I use
>Linux, I can use minix/extfs/ext2/xenix/msdos/VFAT/HPFS/and about 20
>other filesystems and my programs don't know/care what FS I use. It
>would be nice to see DOS start heading in this direction.
We already have an IFS layer. CD drivers, network devices, InterLink all use
it. Compatability here isn't a problem. Nearly everything will run from one of
these --- the number of programs that *have* to run on a FAT drive will be
very small to non-existant.
The main thing that needs done, though, is the long filenames interface. From
Ralf Brown's interrupt list:
MS-DOS 7 (Chicago) - LONG FILENAME FUNCTIONS
AH = 71h
AL = function
0Dh reset drive
39h create directory
3Ah remove directory
3Bh set current directory
41h delete file
43h get file attributes (BL=00h), set file attributes (BL=01h)
47h get current directory
4Eh find first file
4Fh find next file
56h move (rename) file
6Ch create/open file
This doesn't look too hard, now, does it? Come on, someone could write a TSR
that implements it on top of FAT, either as VFAT or using look-up files
without much difficulty.
[...]
--
------------------- http://www-hons-cs.cs.st-and.ac.uk/~dg --------------------
If you're up against someone more intelligent than you are, do something
totally insane and let him think himself to death. --- Pyanfar Chanur
---------------- Sun-Earther David Daton Given of Lochcarron ------------------
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